The Generation Game Tour 2023 – Day Fifteen Tuesday 30th May

Writing about a travel day back to the UK is only marginally less crap than enduring one. In an attempt to make it a little more tolerable on the day we went for a ridiculous breakfast at Hash House A Go Go.

We’d been up at 8, showered, dressed and packed before leaving the room(s) to check out. Thankfully this did not have to entail another half an hour watching someone tap a keyboard at reception.

With the cases split nicely between two cars now we drove the short distance to our date with density.

Juice and coffee all round for the adults and then we ordered.

Me – Snickers Flapjacks

Mum – French Toast of course

Louise – A scramble skillet thing

Tom – Ham and Eggs

Rebecca – Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

Freddie and Dougie both had Pancakes of their own, rather than be sensible and have them share some of ours.

The food here is outstanding and of course huge. I am slightly ashamed to say I did not struggle too much to clear the lot!

The bill was $216.

As tradition dictates, Disney Springs gets a visit on our travel day home for gifts etc. World of Disney took a hammering first and with all gifts literally in the bag we browsed Basin to get clean hands and then Trend D and The Marketplace.

The boys and Tom enjoyed the last ride of the trip.

We left at 2, after inexplicably buying a candle to take across the Atlantic.

With our toll pass in the car Tom was driving, I set our Sat Nav to avoid tolls and it no doubt added a few minutes to the journey but we had plenty of time. The payback was that Rebecca and Tom had to take their car back to Terminal A to return the toll pass whereas we could drop at C.

So we waited quite some time for them to do that and make the arduous trek over to Terminal C. There had clearly been stress involved!

The sooner the toll pass folks get a booth in all terminals the better.

Check-in was quick and easy. One definite sign that you’ve perhaps done too many tips recently is when you recognise the check-in staff.

There was a brief kerfuffle as Tom remembered he’d put Freddie’s Switch in a case where it shouldn’t be but it was soon retrieved and we headed to security. It wasn’t too bad but security with two kids five and under is never easy. We were all glad to get through into the shops and snack up for the flight home. Rebecca had a minor stress-induced incident, but felt better once we’d got through security, found some milk for Dougie in a shop, and settled in until we were called to board.

We all took turns to wander off to the loos to adorn our UK clothing and there dear reader is where I could no longer be arsed taking notes. Nothing springs to mind of any note about the rest of the journey. The plane was fuller alas, than on the way out and the arrival back into the UK was smooth enough for me not to remember anything about it. Ah yes, I do remember we had to wait for our cases for an hour. That is no exaggeration. It was bobbins.

Tom and I were standing next to an American lady, worried about her connecting flight up to Glasgow. She asked if it was always like this in the UK. I told her to refer to my Twitter feed for a good synopsis of the root causes.

And with that, we are done. A complicated trip in many ways, but on the whole successful. Nobody wanted to kill anybody during the whole trip and for a multi-generational party that can only be classed as a win. These trips are tiring, hot and stressful so to get through with no arguments or bickering was a big plus. Let’s not pretend it’s always magical eh?

Mum did brilliantly, coping with the walking and ECVing when required.

We are all very glad she was able to come along and experience everything again, especially with the boys. It can be so easy to forget the details of these trips (unless like an idiot you write about every day in detail) but just skimming back through the photos now, you literally cannot buy that, although of course we did at sizeable expense.

We remembered Dad of course at the appropriate times, with our fireworks viewing in Magic Kingdom being particularly tearful. Ten months on it still doesn’t seem real that he isn’t here. He would have loved this trip!

The boys were great. Freddie was, as ever, incredibly well-behaved. Dougie is “more challenging” but even he, despite his age, the heat, time difference and fairly relentless pace, did well.

As mentioned when we left Daytona, we probably would not return. Vero is always our go-to beach choice but it was full and we chose the familiarity of Daytona rather than risk somewhere new like Clearwater or St. Pete’s. It is looking a bit run down and I fear for its viability in light of all the competition.

Our villa was lovely and a very good stand-in for our regular place, but we will return to that as and when it is possible. Royal Pacific, again, very good and we will return there I’m sure.

So with yet another trip documented, what we all need right now is a decent break before any such nonsense happens again right? OK.

See you here next week for a rare non-trip report blog post. What will I find to talk about?

Till the next time…..